Library

Military Specification MIL-Q-9858A
(Quality Program Requirements) of the U.S.government (first issued as MIL-Q-9858 on April 9, 1959 and revised to MIL-Q-9858A
on December16, 1963) is the origin of ISO 9001 standard and all other quality management system standards and regulations over the world. I would like to present
its outline in this article. MIL-Q-9858A is titled “specification”, because it was intended
to be used as a contract specification for military contractors. However, it is actually a
“quality management system standard” in its nature. It is still one of my favorite standards although it has been already withdrawn by the U.S. government in 1996 because of a policy decision to support industry consensus standards over government directives.